Volkswagen Says Hydrogen Cars ‘A Sales Struggle’ Outside Japan: Report

Volkswagen’s Japan boss, Shigeru Shoji, reportedly believes hydrogen-powered vehicles will struggle to sell outside of the Japanese market.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Mr Shoji pointed to the challenges of handling hydrogen from a refuelling perspective and said the necessary infrastructure would be expensive.

Mr Shoji’s prediction is also based on significant subsidies on hydrogen vehicles from the Japanese government (as much as AU$31,000), which he believes won’t be matched by other countries.

“It may fly within Japan, but not globally,” Mr Shoji said. 

“Fuel cells could become another example of the ‘Galapagos syndrome’, which plagues Japanese companies for making products that are only popular at home.”

But while that home-grown popularity may be driven by government subsidies, Toyota spokesman Dion Corbett reportedly told Bloomberg it was a similar situation for the hybrid-powered Toyota Prius when it first came to market.

Initial sales for the Prius in Japan were strong - thanks again to government subsidies - which helped spearhead a global campaign that has seen more than four million sales since.